September 21, 2016

EDITORIAL: Support International Students and Reinstate CPT

Last spring, the Cornell economics department decided to discontinue access to Curricular Practical Training work authorization for international students in the major. This decision will force international students to get Optional Practical Training visas in order to pursue summer internships and independent studies. The policy change not only makes it much harder for international students to intern over the summer, but also jeopardizes their chances of finding jobs in the U.S. after graduation.

For many international students, seeking internships and jobs is already hard enough. After graduation, they must make a tough decision between pursuing and paying for a graduate degree and attempting the daunting task of obtaining an H-1B temporary work visa. The discontinuation of CPT will make it more difficult for international students to work in this country and obtain the H-1B visa. The concern that the independent study courses for CPT work authorization provides an unfair advantage to international students is inconsequential in the face of the vast challenges that international students face in securing work and obtaining visas after graduation.

The University should be actively supporting international students in their education and career aspirations and helping them navigate the challenging visa process. Cornell already devotes many resources to organizing career-development opportunities for students. Aiding international students — who comprised over 21 percent of total Cornell enrollment in 2015 — in finding jobs and obtaining necessary work visas is an obvious part of Cornell’s responsibility to students.

Simply, Cornell should do more to support international students. The Student Assembly is currently considering a resolution calling for the restoration of CPT in the economics department. Not only should the economics department heed the S.A. resolution, which is likely to pass this week, but the University should also undertake a systematic review of CPT across all Cornell departments and work to ensure CPT work authorization is accessible to international students of all majors. Further, individual colleges should provide its departments with the resources administrators and professors need in order to offer CPT work authorization and other support for international students.

This struggle over CPT authorization in the economics department reflects a larger issue: the challenges of being an international student often go unrecognized.

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ByAditya BhardwajNovember 20, 2016

“Although I’ve told them that things are better than they seem, [my parents] are seriously re-considering whether they should send my sister to the United States for her undergraduate degree next year,” he said.

“The decision to discontinue independent study courses for CPT’s was made by the economics department faculty last spring,” Blume said. “All significant decisions concerning our undergraduate curriculum are made by a vote of the faculty.”